One method of imparting a cinnamon-based swirl in a dough product such as a breakfast roll has typically required an article such as a board for rolling out a dough. A mixture of an oil or fat, such as butter, cinnamon and sugar, has been applied to the top of the rolled-out dough. The dough is then rolled into a spiral shape to form a spiral swirl within the dough. One problem with this method is that the dough has not tended to adhere within the spiral. As a consequence, during baking, spaces are formed within the dough spiral. The baked product has tended to open up and dry out, either during transit or during transfer from the commercial packaging to manipulation by the end user. The dried out product is not desirable to consumers.
The Fowler patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,926 issuing Oct. 27, 1987, describes a multi-component dough product made by a process that includes depositing dough in a mold. Once deposited, the dough is embossed in the mold to form an impression. The impression is filled with an edible second component to form a two-component dough product. The two-component dough product is deposited on a conveyer.
The Clanton et al. patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,503 issuing Dec. 1, 1998, describes a method wherein a plastic extrudable food product is provided and mixed with an additive to form a patterned food product. The pattern is formed in a device such as a die. A cross-sectional area of the patterned food product is reduced from an inlet end to an outlet end by a factor of at least about 50:1 at an average convergence angle of less than 45 degrees while maintaining the cross-sectional pattern to form a reduced cross-sectional patterned dough. The dough is then extruded through a die port having an opening equal to the reduced cross-sectional area, forming a patterned extrudate. An additive is injected through ports into an interstitial gap within the device. The gap is formed by an annular shoulder between the periphery of flowing dough and the interior wall surface of the passageway. The gap provides a topical coating at the periphery of the flowing dough to lubricate and to reduce friction at the periphery of the flowing dough and to provide a surface discoloration on the periphery of the flowing dough.
The Cummins patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,022 issuing Mar. 24, 1998, describes a method for dispensing dough. The method includes conveying dough into an auger that pressurizes and imparts downstream impetus to the dough. The pressurized dough is transferred to a confining region having an upstream zone which establishes a first operating dough pressure and a downstream zone which establishes a second operating dough pressure. The pressurized dough is advanced from the upstream zone to the downstream zone by a positive displacement metering device. A control of the emergence of the dough occurs within the downstream zone of the confining region.
The Verhoeven patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,226 issuing Feb. 24, 1976, describes a method for automatically dispensing a measured amount of food onto a moving conveyer. With this method, a cookie dough is fed from a hopper into a bank of piston-like chambers. The chambers include one or more nozzles. Dough in a measured amount is deposited onto a moving conveyer beneath the nozzle by piston-like action of the chambers which compress to urge the measured amount of dough through the nozzles.
The nozzles are universally mounted to the chambers, so that the nozzle axes along which the dough is dispensed can be swiveled freely at an angle to a generally vertical axis. The nozzles are interconnected by a planar means or mechanism, preferably in the form of a plate, through which the nozzles extend and are universally connected to the plate so that as the plate is driven arcuately in a plane. The nozzles are likewise rotated simultaneously to deposit dough smoothly in a swirled design.